For My Valentine

It Sends Lovers Wild

The time of year when lovers of all types choose to make their day a whole lot better. It's a time to say I love you, and its a time to celebrate your partner and your relationship. So you should be prepared well in advance for how you will do that.

Gift giving is one of the nicest things that can happen to you and those on the receiving end will always remember the way you treat them. It might lead to a lasting friendship, a marriage proposal or just a casual relationship going nowhere into the future but it will always hold a special place in your heart when you make someone else happy, even for a day.

Who was Valentine?

Where does the Festival originate?

As with most of the old so-called saints of the Catholic church this one is shrouded in mystery and there is no official record of such a person, but there is a lot of speculation. The Church habitually adopted popular cult rituals into its calendar and twisted their origin and background until they became cemented in its own doctrine. St. Valentine appears to be just such a farce.

When searching for the origin of it only one possibility came up and that was an old Roman festival called Lupercialia (festival of Lupa). There is not a lot surviving on these events and one has to dig deep to find them as the Catholic fathers made sure that references to anything not Catholic was erased. But underneath there are remnants of things they could not erase, that is in writings by individuals and in archaeology. On History.com there is a reference to the Luperci as being related to the celebration of Romulus and Remus, the twins who supposedly founded Rome.

This took place on February 15th (the Ides) in or near a cave where they were cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. A collection of priests would sacrifice a goat for fertility and a dog for purity and then slice the goats hide into strips. They then dipped the strips in sacrificial blood before roaming the streets slapping women and fields of corn with them. The women enjoyed being selected as they believed it would make them fertile. Young women would then place their names in an urn and later these would be drawn out one by one by eligible bachelors in the city who then paired up with them for the coming year.

These relationships would often end in marriage and in 498 AD the Bishop of Rome, Galasius, outlawed the ritual and declared February 14th St. Valentine's Day. While the Church, founded in 325AD, could not stop the desire for the proceedings it was declared un-Christian and by outlawing it those who persisted with it could be severely punished or even executed.

The Church claimed 3 martyrs named Valentine, one of which was made a saint, but there is no actual record of them nor evidence that they are connected to the festival. If they were martyrs they probably had other things on their mind.

The color red is still a potent symbol for lovers and it is indicative of blood and, therefore, fertility as per the above practices. The idea of love and partnership obviously stems from such a festival as one cannot imagine a Catholic priest being responsible for bringing lovers together in such a way.

"The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois." (cited History.com)

According to this source the popularity of the day increased during the eighteen century when it became common practice to send notes and small gifts to friend and lovers and by the end of the century cards were already being used for that purpose. It is estimated that now more than a billion cards are received on this day world wide.

Valentine Day Quotations

from History.com

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

- Aristotle

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

- Lao Tzu

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.

- Henry Ward Beecher

Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.

- Anais Nin

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires;

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

-Helen Keller

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

- Zora Neale Hurston

Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.

- Leo Tolstoy

Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.

- Dorothy Parker

I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.

- Alice Walker

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

- Pablo Neruda, "Love Sonnet XVII"

Dear Kylie and Lovers

Famous Lovers of History

How many men model themselves on Casanova?

Casanova wrote of his many sexual and romantic exploits in 18th-century Europe. Born in 1725 he joined a seminary but was expelled due to scandalous conduct and his book, Historire de ma vie, covered many of his sexual exploits and encounters. "Casanova's celebration of pleasure seeking and much-professed love of women - he maintained that a woman's conversation was at least as captivating as her body - made him the leading champion of a movement towards sexual freedom, and the model for the famous Don Juan of literature." (History.com)

This was one of the first and most famous lover I heard about during my teenage years. So it was inevitable that one day I would possess his book and learn of his exploits first hand. As a Roman lover it was a puzzle why he was considered so great. Personally he appeared to me to be over-sexed and out of control as he entered bedroom after bed room of his lovers, many of whom later suffered the consequences with some great loss of face and dignity. In fact he was a rogue and in today's western society would probably be arrested as a serial offender.

There have been many other famous lovers and some are looked on with horror, one of them would have to be Henry VIII who used women for pleasure and not necessarily for their companionship or other attributes. To lose your head because the king got sick of you would have been a turn off but many women have died over the centuries for this same reason. Loose your looks and appeal girls and you might still be in for a fate worse then death.

But lovers don't see the future as they live for the present mainly. Hormones and sentiment, love and romance is all that matters on Valentine's Day and eventually there may be marriage as a result. But on the day it's all about love and more love and romance

Give a gift certificate to any value for a wonderful perfume. Famous brands and scents are available. Also customers can get a glass vial sample to try before buying at some stores. Gift certificates can be delivered by mail or e-mail and make a fantastic present.

Look for a Vineyard that features only premier, top quality vintages, custom crafted by specialty winemakers who are still ever faithful to the art of making wine with the dedicated passion and devoted love for the time treasured process that can be tasted in each and every savory bottle opened, poured and enjoyed.

Some Companies allow you to build higher quality certified diamond stud earrings with your choice of diamond clarity, color and setting styles. The earrings will then ship in one day with a certificate of diamond quality and appraisal. Your satisfaction is the company's priority

Valentines engage their sweethearts. Roses say it in a beautiful way and are the best Valentines flowers. They constitute an essential part of this day's gift Ideas. Red Roses are universal, and particularly preferred. Add chocolate to sweeten them and give a card with your message. The latter is the valentine.

Comments

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sending

VspaBotanicals

5 years ago

Lovely lens. Love was definitely in the air that day.:)

Helene-Malmsio

5 years ago

-(`v)- . . -(`v)- . . -(`v)-

Happy Valentine Day!

All the very best to you and your loved ones, from me and mine!

(`v)

`*..*

..*) .*)

(. (. . .`

Helene Malmsio aka. SCSS

Vikki

5 years agofrom US

Love this page; layout is very cool ;) Happy Valentine's Day!

anonymous

5 years ago

Happy Valentin's Day, its coming around again very soon! :)

Emilylong805

6 years ago

Amazing collection. Thanks

kathysart

6 years ago

Thank you again for including me in yet another one of you wonderful lenses.. and OH I see sweet Julie here as well.. yay. Blessed! .. I hope this posts and I hope it just posts "once" lol as I see Squidoo is not posting or a zillion times on the same message.. oh dear! Much love and light, Kathy

julieannbrady

6 years ago

AH, shucks, KimG beat me to the punch! Happy Valentine's Day my dear ... "Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age."

KimGiancaterino

6 years ago

Happy early Valentine's Day!

burntchestnut

6 years ago

I liked the quotations about love and learned some new information about Valentine.

MargoPArrowsmith

7 years ago

Good work

mivvy

7 years ago

Great lens, I did not know who Valentine was, now I know.

ChrisDay LM

7 years ago

Great lens in your classic mould - a unique blend of information and pleasure to welcome the reader. By the Way, the video 'My Valentine' is not functional.

Evelyn Saenz

8 years agofrom Royalton

This lens has gotten me in the mood for Valentine's Day. Thank you for creating such a romantic lens.

anonymous

8 years ago

This is a really great lens! I am such a romantic at heart. Even though I have some cynical opinions on Valentine's Day, this lens is sooo much more. I love it! :)

Cheryl Paton

8 years agofrom West Virginia

It's amazing how some of our holidays get started!

Bambi Watson

8 years ago

Very colorful!

MediaMogul1

8 years ago

It was so generous of you to lensroll my lens. Thank you. I've done the same with yours. Best of luck to both of us.

Susiq2

8 years ago

Very good and detailed lens! Lots of good info, history, and quotes. I've made a Valentine's lens, too, so it's nice to see other examples. Nice variety of products.

MediaMogul1

8 years ago

Very nice lens. Very informative also as to the origins of celebrating the day. 5 stars.

hayleylou lm

8 years ago

I love Valentine's Day, it's great to have a day where you can show your partner what they mean to you. I know that you are supposed to let them know everyday, but in the real world this doesn't happen - not with children, work and everyday stuff anyway. On Valentines Day it reminds you to take a bit of time out for you and your loved one. Great lens, as always, 5 stars

maryspeller lm

8 years ago

Thanks for this lovely lens. i particularly enjoyed the quotations. They are beautiful.

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